


Or Is It Just Me?

by GutterBall



Series: Dragons and Princes and Promises, Oh My! [2]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Cussing, Dragon AU, EVERYTHING GOES WRONG, M/M, cranky Chuck, loyal Raleigh, until it suddenly goes right
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-28 23:02:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14459751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GutterBall/pseuds/GutterBall
Summary: Chuck has a plan to get kidnapped by an obliging dragon, but he's not sure how to feel about the whole thing. He's desperate to get away, but he was so not expecting the dragon to turn into a human. A very pretty human. Hot as hell, really.Distracting.But he has a plan, and he just needs to implement it. Which is when everything possible goes awry.





	Or Is It Just Me?

"I'm gonna fuck a dragon."

Muttering to himself whilst he climbed down the mountain cliffs and oblivious to his perilous situation -- he made the descent as he'd made the ascent: freehanded -- Prince Charles of the Sydney Hansens wondered how the fuck he'd gotten himself into this situation.

"Why the fuck did the goddamn dragon have to turn into a goddamn gorgeous bloke? How could I have seen that coming?"

His grip slipped with his concentration so far afield, and Chuck belatedly realized he might not live long enough to be kidnapped and fucked by a dragon. He only fell a meter or so, though, before he managed to snag a slight outcropping and jerked to a halt.

"Jesus Christ. Mate, what the fuck are you doing?"

Clinging to his latest perch, he rested his forehead against the craggy cliffside. He needed to sort his shit. He'd be fine if he could just get his shit sorted.

After all, hot dragon man or no hot dragon man, nothing had really changed.

He'd half-expected to be roasted and/or eaten the second he strolled into the dragon's lair, so even getting a huff from the big bastard had meant his plan was going well. Snagging its attention enough to lay out his plan was another positive step.

But having to research and seek out a Dragon of the Old Soil in the first place meant that his entire position was shite and he needed to get out. No matter what.

And if he had to stay with the dragon forever, it might be a good thing the giant fiery asshole turned into an imminently fuckable bloke with eyes like the sea with the sun glinting off it and a body made for tasting at leisure.

"Don't think about it right now, fuckstick. Down the mountain first. Get everyone out of the courtyard after dark second. Get kidnapped at dawn. That's The Plan."

Drawing a deep breath, he forced his whirling mind to settle, then lifted his head away from the cliffside and forced himself to look up. He'd come down rather far, and he knew better than to look down any further than he needed to set his feet and look for handholds. If he had to guess, he'd made it about two-thirds of the way down the current cliff face, after which it was more a steep angle than a sheer drop. Should be fine.

He reckoned, though, that it might be better to think about what he would soon be leaving behind than what awaited him if he survived the goddamn climb.

It wasn't that he hated his old man. Not at all. And, for all that they rowed like angry cats nearly every time they spoke, he knew the king didn't hate him, either. King Hercules of the Sydney Hansens would rather cut off his own arm than actively endanger his only son.

But Herc also had a strong sense of duty, and with the future of the kingdom in the mix, duty won out over what he knew was best for said son. Thus, despite knowing and quite understanding Chuck's attraction to blokes... the arranged marriage.

Worse, Chuck didn't even dislike his would-be bride. He'd met her several times in his youth, of course. The proposed political alliance would strengthen both nations, so they had been encouraged to grow fond of one another, to build trust and respect between them.

Mako of the Tanigashima Moris. She was lovely and brilliant and fun, and if he could ever love a woman, it would be her.

But she didn't love him any more than he loved her, and while she would never be so disrespectful as to disobey her liege parents... she, too, knew they weren't a good match. Too alike in too many ways whilst being too different in others. Friends, they could manage, but nothing more.

And, for all her manifold charms, Chuck simply wasn't attracted to her. He didn't want to marry her. He didn't want to have sex with her and force his children on her. The very idea was wrong, both for him and for her. He respected her too much to turn her into his loveless baby manufacturer.

And she bloody well deserved better than a man who could never love her.

And... dammit, he wanted someone he _could_ love. Didn't he deserve that? After all the shite he'd done for king and country, all the battles, all the engineering feats, all the goddamn boring state meetings with wankers who just wanted power rather than peace in the realm, all the ludicrously flashy royal dinners, all the sneaking off to just go to his tower room where it was quiet and spending the rest of the night reading or drawing schematics for better war machines or defensive positions or just staring out the window and wishing like hell he was someone, _anyone_ else?

Such thoughts kept him grounded enough that he reached the more easily manageable slope of the mountain and started down facing forward instead of clinging to the rocks. In fact, it was during one of those royal dinners where he should be waltzing the ladies of the kingdom around the ballroom instead of hiding out in his room with a good book that he came across mention of the Dragons of the Old Soil. Particularly, of a dragon that was occasionally seen flying about Sydney and the surrounding kingdoms, eating the occasional sheep and even, once, a yak.

He'd never seen a dragon himself. The last confirmed sighting had been before he was born. Perhaps even before his old man was born. The people who'd seen it hadn't fought it off, either; it had apparently only burned the nets catapulted at it and flown away, bashing down a barn with its tail on the way. That hadn't stopped the kingdom from tracking the beast down, of course.

The carnage had been complete and devastating. Not a single warrior survived.

The dragon most certainly did, though it was never seen again, other than in dubious glimpses or in the obvious but inexplicable absence of a favorite domesticated animal. The assumption was that, having roasted or torn apart every warrior that had attacked it, the beast was sated for however long it took to digest the bits that were never found.

Chuck had a different theory.

Considering the dragon had merely flown away from the first attempt to catch and destroy it, perhaps the beast had no intention of violence. Perhaps it hadn't known humans were near and wanted nothing to do with them until they'd come to it, threatened it, started fighting it.

The Plan began to form in his mind.

If he came to the beast with no weapon or armor, if he could get its attention before it destroyed him, perhaps he might be able to escape alive -- both the monster's lair and his miserable, unsuitable life as a goddamn fancy-dressing, ballroom-dancing, noble-stroking, sheila-romancing bore of a prince.

Sighing, Chuck stopped his determined but distracted trudge down the mountainside and shook himself. He needed to pay attention to where the fuck he was going. His sense of direction was nigh flawless, but any idiot could get lost in the rough wood that extended a good halfway up the mountainside. And the bargain was struck, anyway, so none of his past would matter come sunrise, so long as the dragon bloke really did come to faux-kidnap him and hide him away.

He'd deal with the rest of it after. And, strangely, he really did believe the dragon would show up and do his part.

All Chuck had to do was get back to the castle alive, shuffle the night guards off somehow, and be right there in the courtyard come sunrise. The dragon's arrival would draw enough of a crowd that Herc would know what happened, and that would be that.

Easy-peasy.

\--

He'd thought of everything. He really had.

Which only made it more frustrating when everything went wrong right from the start.

Chuck had succeeded in sending the night guards on a search and destroy mission for a rampaging moose that had supposedly damn near killed him as he strolled innocently in the woods, but the right bastards came back within an hour, a moose carcass on an old cart dragged behind them. The efficient sods. The entire village court would eat well for a month.

Grumbling, he paced around his tower room for hours, waiting for just the right moment to shout out the window that he could see what looked like the pinpoint of dozens of campfires off over the far hill, cursing that they were being attacked by a foreign army and that he'd man the courtyard whilst the guard advanced. That should take them more than the half hour until dawn to investigate, the wankers. He was tempted to shout for them to take their goddamn time, but he managed to swallow it back.

He didn't bother packing anything. The only things he'd really miss were his books, which were too heavy, and his drafting desk and gadgetry designed to aid in his schematic work and engineering projects. Plus, it might look a bit dodgy to be kidnapped with a bulging duffel full of all his gear thrown over his shoulder.

Unfortunately, after he'd taken his life into his hands hurrying down the twisty stairs, he damn near ran right into his old man, who'd been hurrying down from his own wing. Because of course one of the guards had stayed behind to wake the king. Because protocol.

Goddammit.

"Oi, watch where you're going, old man!"

Herc, as always, looked disappointed and a bit constipated to see him. "Right, sorry. Good, you're dressed and aware. Where's your armor? There's an army camped over the far hill and--"

"Yeah, I know. I'm the one who alerted the guards." Frustrated, he dragged a hand through his hair. His old man was _not_ part of The Plan. "What are you thinking to do? You can't think to march out in the wee hours when the whole guard's already on the way."

"Someone's got to rouse the morning guards and get them in defensive formation in the courtyard until the night guards get back, yeah?"

 _Goddammit_. Why the fuck did his old man have to be a good king and an excellent strategist? And why hadn't Chuck reckoned on that in his careful plotting?

"Oi, fuck that. Get your royal ass back upstairs. I was planning to watch the yard myself until they got back, but I can rouse the guards as easy as you."

"Chuck, you can't just--"

"Get back upstairs! You're the goddamn king! Who do you think they'll be aiming at if they get past the guards?"

Herc growled under his breath and crossed his arms. "I can fight just as well as you, ya ratbag. And they'll be aiming at you, too."

"Maybe so, but the kingdom can do without me. It _can't_ do without you. You're staying goddamn put, ya hear me--"

An earth-shattering roar rumbled the stones at their feet, and both king and prince paled. Chuck literally felt the blood leave his face and swayed a moment on his feet.

"Sweet Jesus, what the fuck was that?"

But Chuck knew. Raleigh was right on time.

But god _damn_ did the bastard have to be so bloody loud about it?

Worse, Herc recovered before him, shoved past him, and ran out into the courtyard, drawing his sword on the run.

No. No no no no, this was not happening. How could everything go so pear-shaped in such a short amount of time?

Running after his father, he hurled out the huge main doors just as the dragon, scales glowing like antique gold in the first rays of dawn and blue eyes sparking like lightning, swooped down and snatched the king up in one of his massive claws. Herc squawked, then started bashing away at the talons clutching him and what little of the leg he could reach.

Everything was fucked. Literally every single thing.

Running out into the courtyard and waving his arms frantically, Chuck could only think of one thing to do: shout at the top of his lungs.

**_"RALEIGH!! MATE, YOU GOT THE WRONG BLOKE!!"_ **

His throat hurt with the force of the shout. Worse, the first stream of hastily-armored, wide-eyed guards stumbled out of the barracks, still tying on shin-plates and scrambling into their helmets.

**_"RALEIGH!! GODDAMMIT!!"_ **

Herc took another swipe at the dragon's foot, but the bad angle jarred the blade right out of his hands. Chuck, still on the run, snatched the sword up from where it fell, flipped his grip, and hurled it right at the big beast's exposed belly. The blade had no chance of breaking through the massive scales, but it somehow did what he wanted it to: got the big bloke's attention.

Growling like thunder, the beast turned midair and opened its mouth, which already glowed with fire in the back.

**_"RALEIGH! YOU GOT THE BLOODY KING, NOT ME!!"_ **

The beast paused, scrunching its long face into an unreadable expression, then lifted the clenched claw up to glare at Herc.

"Great ancients, there are two of you?"

Smacking both hands to his face, Chuck let out a strangled, irritated, helpless sound. Everything was fucked, and he'd just called his so-called kidnapper by a name he could never have known, and Herc was no one's idiot and would never believe that this wasn't just a plot for Chuck to escape his duty as prince and run away with a goddamn dragon.

The great wings shifted their hover beat to lower the huge body gently to the courtyard tiles, the beast settling itself and snarling at the startled-awake, confused, terrified guards still trying manfully to look threatening whilst shaking in their boots. Balancing easily on three legs, Raleigh extended the other claw forward to allow Herc to be steady on his feet before letting go.

Without putting so much as a scratch on him.

Herc, instead of glaring at the giant death monster that had just snatched him up only to put him back down, immediately turned a glare on Chuck.

"Right. What's all this then?"

Sighing, he didn't even try to make something up. He was caught, plain and simple.

"Dad, this is Raleigh. Don't hurt him or sic the guard on him, yeah? He was just doing me a favor."

Herc closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "A favor."

"I told him I'd do anything or give him anything he wanted if he pretended to kidnap me and hide me away until you lot accepted that I'd likely been eaten and moved on."

The stubbly jaw clenched. "Leaving aside the idea that I'd ever move on after you'd been bloody eaten, ya rotten little gobshite, what _exactly_ did you promise a _goddamn dragon?"_

He looked up at Raleigh, majestic and golden in the glare of the rising sun, unconcerned about the many weapons pointed at him. The big bloke just looked back at Chuck, blue eyes calm and steady. It was weirdly comforting. Something in that calm blue gaze told him the bloke would have his back, even though their deal was fucked.

So.

"Promised I'd stay with him forever." Despite the situation, despite being massively fucked, despite the fact that he'd been freaked out by his own attraction to the human form the bloke could summon up at will, Chuck grinned crookedly up at his would-be rescuer. "He didn't want anything else."

The beast huffed, eyes crinkling in what could only be amusement.

"Chuck. My God in the stars of the sky." Herc had gone from pinching the bridge of his nose to thumping his palm against his forehead. "What the fuck were you thinking? That is a goddamn _dragon!_ It'll eat you sooner than look at you!"

"Oi, he's not eating me right now, is he?"

_"DRAGON."_

"And he didn't so much as scratch you when he thought you were me!"

_"It. Is. A. Dragon."_

_"We made a deal!"_

_"Why the fuck would a dragon honor a deal with a human??"_

"Ahem."

Chuck blinked, abruptly realizing he'd gotten right up in his old man's face, his fists clenched as if ready to fight, then looked around Herc's head to see Raleigh standing there in his human form, naked as a newborn and completely unconcerned about that fact.

Bloke. Was. Gorgeous. Every single thought went right out of Chuck's head.

Thankfully, Herc had also turned at the new voice. Unfortunately, the poor bastard had no idea what was going on.

"Where's the dragon gone?"

The guards, wide-eyed and jaw-dropped to the last man, pointed at the naked bloke.

Shaking off his stupor at so much gloriously nude flesh -- though he couldn't help but be ruefully amused as the adrenaline ran out of him -- Chuck gestured. "Dad, meet Raleigh. In human form."

Raleigh, who could be as formal as anyone would wish, strode confidently forward and offered his hand. "Your highness."

Clearly unsure what protocol was required in greeting a naked dragon-turned-human, Herc blinked and mechanically shook the offered hand. "Right. Uh... your... sorry, mate. I dunno a proper term of respect."

Raleigh grinned, the expression sunny and as bright as the light at his back. "I can't even pronounce it in this form, so I won't hold it against you. Just Raleigh is fine."

Another shake, and Herc abruptly let go, suddenly remembering he'd been shaking hands with a dragon. That had intended to kidnap his son. But at his son's behest.

There was no possible protocol for the situation.

But again, Herc righted himself. "Right. Raleigh. Uh... I reckon I could threaten to fight you off if you try to make off with my sprog, here, but I don't really want to do that. You seem a nice bloke, but... he _is_ my son. And the prince."

Raleigh's smile didn't dim, but his face seemed to harden, his eyes going cold as the deepest ocean. "And he doesn't like women, and you're demanding he marry one and bear children with her."

Herc gasped like a maiden aunt and whipped his head 'round to glare, wide-eyed, at Chuck. "You told the _dragon?"_

Unashamed, Chuck shrugged. "Had to give him a reason, yeah? He didn't want to make trouble."

"But I will. If I have to."

Raleigh's voice was was hard as his expression, but Chuck felt relief sweep through him. He hadn't been wrong. Raleigh _would_ have his back, would fly him away if Herc tried to come over strong.

Would fight for him.

And Herc, for all that he was stubborn and bound to duty, was too smart not to see it. Sighing, he shook his head.

"Look, mate, you seem a decent sort, for all that you're a dragon. But you've got to see that he has a duty to the kingdom. He's my only sprog, yeah? The kingdom needs an heir."

Chuck opened his mouth to start the old argument over again, but Raleigh beat him to it, still hard in the eyes but nonchalant in stance.

"He can do his duty to the kingdom without being forced to marry where he can't love."

Herc grunted. "You must not know much about human biology, then. He can't produce an heir without a woman."

Still nonchalant, Raleigh shrugged. "I can."

Herc blinked and frowned. Chuck tilted his head, confused. The guards froze, eyes wide as they traded the glances of the truly lost.

Finally, Chuck broke the silence. "You can what?"

Some of the granite went out of the bloke's expression, and the rotten sod smirked. "Bear offspring."

Well.

Huh.

His mouth worked, but he had no idea what to make it say.

Raleigh winked at him. "Magic."

Herc eyed the bloke anew, eyes narrow. "Are you royalty? Do dragons have a comparable hierarchy?"

Serious again, Raleigh shot Chuck a look he was too gobsmacked to know how to return. "I've earned status among the elders. We aren't royalty, but many of our kind would fear to provoke me and mine. Even the ancients would hesitate to draw our wrath."

Suddenly brightening, Herc smiled broadly and clapped a hand on the bloke's bare shoulder. "I reckon an infusion of dragon's blood into the family line might make another kingdom think twice before dealing with Sydney, eh?"

Chuck, still several steps back, managed to squawk a single, strangled "What?" before the hand on the shoulder became an arm around both shoulders as Herc pulled the bloke in tight.

"You wanted to keep my son around forever, yeah? What say we make it official?"

He managed another squawked _"What??",_ but Raleigh only eyed him coolly, blue eyes guarded as they considered him. He had no idea what to make of that look. He had no idea what to make of any of this.

Raleigh could...?

And Herc was...?

"If Chuck would have me, I have no objection. But it is his decision alone." Shrugging off the offending arm, Raleigh stepped forward without quite getting in Chuck's space. "Chuck." Those blue eyes seemed to fill up the world from this close. "What do _you_ want?"

What the fuck _did_ he want? How could he be expected to decide a thing like that? He'd only wanted to get away. It wasn't just the forced marriage that he'd been escaping after all.

But... if he could go away with Raleigh and still fulfill his duties to the kingdom as prince, could even perhaps produce an heir or two...?

But... he hadn't wanted to marry except for love. He deserved that. He'd told himself again and again that he'd done enough already and bloody _deserved_ a chance to finally be happy.

So... could he love a dragon?

Blue eyes. Golden blonde hair. Full lips. Miles of skin and muscle, warmth radiating from both.

_Raleigh._

Everything in him settled, the tension and confusion flowing out on a long breath.

"Same thing I wanted yesterday, mate." He met those pretty eyes with his own and smiled crookedly. "You."

Something watchful went out of the gorgeous face, and Raleigh smiled and put out his hand. "Shall we make a new deal, then?"

Chuck looked down at the offered hand and snorted. "Oi, fuck that."

Before anyone could react, he stepped forward, right up against the pretty sod, and kissed him, strong and sure right from the start. Thankfully, the bloke kissed back, chuckling into his mouth and wrapping him up in strong, warm arms.

A slightly confused cheer went up from the guards, though Herc quickly silenced it with a, "Oi, little privacy here, yeah?". A clatter of boots on cobbles, and then it was quiet. Chuck stroked his hands over the warm muscle of Raleigh's back, inching them downward until a sharply clearing throat alerted him to the fact that they weren't entirely alone.

Groaning, he forced himself to pull away from the lazy heat of Raleigh's perfect, sweet mouth. When he finally dragged his gaze away from the beautiful picture of closed eyes, long eyelashes, and flushed, plump lips, he saw Herc still standing just to one side, arms crossed and expression wry.

"Oi, what now?"

His old man rolled his eyes. "Chuck. The royal heir has to be legitimate, yeah?"

Mortified, he closed his eyes and shook his head. "Jesus Christ, Dad."

But Raleigh only chuckled. "I haven't worked the magic yet, your highness. Any heirs can wait until we're ready for them."

Delighted again, Herc only narrowly avoided slinging his arm around the bloke's shoulders for a second time. "Bonzer. Oi, call me Herc, yeah? And shall we set a date? The sooner, the better."

"DAD."

"What?"

But Raleigh only rumbled another chuckle. "You make the plans. Send an emissary when everything's ready. And yes, the sooner, the better."

Herc blinked, his smile slipping. "Send an emissary? Where are you going, then?"

Giving Chuck a last, quick squeeze, Raleigh let him go and stepped back. And transformed, the process so much quicker and without the initial spasm of pain Chuck had backed away from the first time.

The dragon, huge and golden and brilliant in the morning sunshine, reached forward and opened his claw, palm up. Chuck, finally getting the idea, stepped onto it and sat down, not flinching when the potentially deadly talons closed around him, holding him securely without so much as nicking his skin.

Then, the big bloke bared his teeth down at the king.

"We're going home."

Without waiting for a response, Raleigh flexed his massive wings, and they shot into the air, the castle already falling away behind them. Chuck watched the kingdom spooling out below, looking like the world's largest and most detailed map, eyes wide with wonder even as the wind whipped his hair about his head. The dragon held him close to that enormous body, shielding him from the worst of the rush, his bulk comforting in light of so many new sensations.

In moments, the mountain came into view, and Chuck thought of what Raleigh had said. They were going home.

The bloke was doing just as he'd promised before: helping him escape a life he didn't want. Taking him in forever.

Wanting nothing in return but offering everything.

Such a good bloke.

Smiling now, he watched the mountain rush toward them and thought the magic word again. Home. Raleigh's home.

 _Their_ home.

Happy and hopeful for perhaps the first time in his life, Prince Chuck of the Sydney Hansens relaxed in the deadly clutches of the dragon he was well on the way to loving and enjoyed the swift, brilliant ride home.

He could get used to this.

**THE END**


End file.
